April 2, 2025 • 17 mins
Today we're addressing commonly asked business questions that many practice owners are too embarrassed to ask.
• Insurance vs. private pay
• Business structures: sole proprietorships, LLCs and S-Corps- which is the right choice?
• Retaining clients ethically by focusing on their evolving needs and continuing value rather than dependency
Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this podcast with other practice owners. If your practice needs help with finances or growth, head to therapybusinesspod.com to learn how we can help.
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*Intro/outro song credit:
King Around Here by Alex Grohl
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
My name is Craig and I'm the owner of Daisy Financial
Coaching.
Our team is on a mission tomake your therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
(00:24):
Running a business, owning yourown therapy practice, can feel
really isolating.
Sometimes it feels like we areon this island and not a lot of
people can fully understand whatwe're going through.
You may have friends and familymembers who are working 9 to 5s
, or maybe they own a business,but it's just a slightly
different one.
We find that not a lot ofpeople can understand fully the
(00:45):
stress and the pressure that weput ourselves on under as
business owners.
So, when it comes down to thesethings, a lot of times we are
afraid to reach out or we'reafraid to admit that we don't
know certain things, and so, aswe meet with business owners and
therapy practice owners whocome in and ask us questions or
maybe they submit questions tothe podcast, or these are
(01:09):
clients that we already havethere's certain questions that
come up over and over and over,and a lot of times they feel
embarrassed.
They feel like they should knowthe answer to these, but they
have no idea that it's aquestion that every practice
owner has and it's, while maybefeels like something they should
know.
It's okay that you don't andhonestly, I don't know why you
should.
No one teaches us business whenwe're going through grad school
(01:29):
to become therapists.
So it's really important toreach out for help and ask these
questions, and today I want tohighlight just a few questions
that we receive, and this willbe a reoccurring themed episode
that we'll do every so often,where we answer some common
questions to make sure that ifyou have this question burning
in your mind but you've beenafraid to ask it, one that you
see that you're not alone to us,or you can email me directly at
(01:52):
info at dacycoachingcom, andI'm happy to take that question,
either answer it via email or,if I feel like it's a question
(02:13):
that would benefit listeners,we'll add it to one of our
future episodes and answer itlive here on the podcast.
All right, let's jump intofirst common question, which is
should I take insurance or goprivate pay, or another way of
phrasing, that is, should I keeptaking insurance or should I
switch over to private pay andthis is a very heavy question
(02:35):
because it depends on a lot ofdifferent things.
People take insurance for manyreasons.
Typically, the number onereason I see clinicians or
therapy practices take insurancefrom day one is because they
need clients.
They have this need to getclients in the door and the
fastest way to do that is towork with insurance.
Now, obviously, insurance isgoing to have its drawbacks.
It's capped what you'rereimbursed on, so you have a
(02:57):
certain reimbursement rate thatyou are stuck with.
Now you can negotiate those.
We just talked about that in arecent episode.
So if you go back a fewepisodes, you'll see that I
talked to you through theprocess of renegotiating some of
your reimbursement rates tohopefully get a pay bump.
But all I said, you don't havecontrol over what you are
charging clients or what you'regetting paid from clients.
But it is a good lead generator.
(03:19):
It's a great way for people tocome to you who maybe wouldn't
be coming to you if you didn'ttake insurance.
Now what we find is a lot ofpeople feel trapped in this
insurance world and they'retrying to get more private pay
clients, but they're going.
How do I make that transition?
And then also, should I makethat transition?
Should I be turning away thislead flow in order to switch to
(03:41):
private pay, or should I begiving up this revenue in order
to be charging more?
That answer really depends onyou.
So what is I always say?
Start with boiling down to whyam I taking insurance to begin
with?
If it's leads?
Ask the question do I stillneed a lead source If your
calendar is capped, if you havea waiting list, if your team is
(04:03):
pretty full, you may not need alead source right now.
Maybe you don't need leadscoming in.
Maybe you're at a place whereyou could focus more on private
pay and taking on higher payingclients.
So if it's a lead source, askthat question.
If it's a moral thing you'regoing I want my therapy to be
accessible to everyone and havemoney not be a barrier well then
(04:26):
, insurance might be a good fitfor your practice, because that
is a way for somebody to come toyou that maybe they wouldn't be
able to privately pay for it.
That said, the flip side ofthat is you are not required to
work with everybody, and it'snot ethically or morally wrong
to turn people away if theycan't afford you.
You can serve people withoutactually taking them on as
(04:48):
clients.
So that may mean you have areferral partner.
So if you decide I'm gonna stoptaking insurance and somebody
comes to me and they can'tafford it, but they have
insurance, maybe you have a fewpeople in your back pocket you
can send them to that does takeinsurance.
Maybe you can send themresources or help them through
that process of finding someonewho is a good fit even though
(05:08):
you are not that fit.
You do not have to be a goodfit for everyone.
So, as you're deciding, should Icontinue taking insurance?
Should I take it to begin with?
Maybe you're right now allprivate pay and you're like
maybe is it a good idea to addinsurance.
I don't know.
I think it boils down to thosethings.
What's the purpose of takinginsurance?
Like I said, most of the timeit's leads, but sometimes it's
(05:29):
just an accessibility thing.
Before dropping insurance, wewant to make sure that we have a
marketing engine that isworking.
Either you have a large enoughclient base that word of mouth
is cooking, they're referringtheir friends and family to you
and you have enough peoplecoming in not directly through
insurance avenues.
Maybe you have a lot of onlinecontent, a lot of different
(05:52):
marketing.
Maybe you're running Google ads, whatever it is.
A lot of things factor intothat.
How much can we lean into thatprivate pay?
Because if we're going to cutoff insurance or we're going to
choose not to accept it, then wehave to have some kind of way
to drive people to our practice.
Even if you're full, even ifyou're at capacity, we still
need some kind of traction.
(06:12):
One of the biggest mistakes thatyou can make is to pull your
foot off the marketing gassimply because you're going well
, we're doing great, we haveplenty of clients and we don't
need clients right now.
Because then what happens isclients churn and then all of a
sudden, you are in need ofclients and you don't have
anything primed.
You don't have any marketingreally working for you.
So insurance or private payreally depends on you.
(06:36):
But from a financial standpoint, private pay is going to be
better.
You're gonna make more moneyper session, it's gonna make it
easier to hire clinicians and topay them a wage that is really
highlights their value.
But all that said, if you'rebrand new and you just need
clients coming to the door,insurance is a great way to get
(06:57):
into that.
Or if you've been around for awhile and insurance is your main
breadwinner, then maybe keep itfor until you have a chance to
transition out of it.
So that is one of the topquestions that we receive.
Another one that we receive isreally focused on the business
structure.
So should I operate as an LLC,an S-corp, another business
(07:19):
structure?
And so I want to guide youthrough the three different
types, three main types ofbusiness structures that you're
probably going to be dealingwith.
So sole proprietorship is thefirst one.
That's the easiest one to start.
It is just you doing businessas you.
There's no legal separation,there's no business entity
itself.
It's's just you.
So, as my music business is asole proprietorship because I'm
a contract musician, I have aband I play in, I do contract
(07:42):
gigs with other musical groups,and so it is just me.
That means when they pay me,it's directly to me, it's not to
a business.
This is the easiest way to doit.
Like I said, however, there'sno separation, which means that
your personal assets are at risk.
If, let's say, I were to dosomething and somebody were to
(08:03):
want to come sue me, they don'tsue the business, they're suing
me directly because there is nobusiness to sue.
So it's all in one.
So there are risks that comewith it.
Typically a sole proprietorshipis for, I would say, side
hustles, maybe if it's the very,very early stages of your
business.
But I usually would say, if youare going to be doing this,
(08:23):
like this is your full-time gig,then probably a good idea to
just go ahead and do an LLC.
Now, an LLC is very similar.
It just separates it.
It's a legal protection for you.
It's a business entity.
So you have your business andthen you have you.
It keeps it incrediblyseparated and this is going to
protect you.
So if that example I gave, ifsomebody were to come and sue me
(08:46):
as a musician, well, they'regoing to sue.
If I had an LLC, they sue thebusiness, not me.
My personal assets are not atrisk in that instance.
So separating it out, it'sbetter to do that again if this
is going to be your full-timegig.
Now, an S-corp is anS-corporation is just another
level up, an S-corp.
Really, the benefit of it is ittakes away the self-employment
(09:09):
tax.
So when you're an LLC or a soleproprietorship, you're going to
be paying a self employment tax, which is usually around 15%.
When you go through an S corpyou're only taxed on what goes
through your payroll.
And so with an S corp there areadded complications, like
you're going to have to have apayroll software, you're going
to have to pay yourself throughpayroll, you have to pay
(09:31):
yourself a reasonable wage,which is kind of vague, but a
reasonable salary so that it'srunning through.
You're going to be paying forMedicare and unemployment tax,
all those things.
Because it really is like youare an employee of your company.
With an S-Corp, you have yourS-Corp business and then you
have you who is the manager, theCEO, who's being paid a salary
(09:53):
through payroll to be the CEO orthe manager of the business.
Typically, s-corp is going tosave you money if you're making
over $75,000 to $100,000 a year.
So when you pass that threshold, most of the time it makes more
financial sense to switch overto an S-Corp.
And that's just because thereare fees.
There are other things that ifyou're smaller than that, the
(10:15):
cost savings of thatself-employment tax does not
necessarily outweigh theS-corporation side.
As far as all of this goes, weare not lawyers, we're not CPAs.
So I always recommend, beforeyou make any decisions with
these things and this is why wedon't talk a lot about these
different tax structures andthese different business
structures is because there's alot of fact-dependent things on
(10:36):
it.
So what I've kind ofhighlighted is some rule of
thumbs, but I highly recommendtalking to your tax pro, talking
to, if you have, a businesslawyer, figuring out what is the
right timing for me, with whatbusiness structure should I be
doing?
All right, the last question wehave is retaining questions.
How do I retain sorry, how do Iretain clients while
maintaining ethical boundaries?
(10:56):
This even goes out into thatmarketing realm of ethical
marketing in this space which wehave an episode where I
interviewed a marketingspecialist who specializes with
therapy practices all overethical marketing, and so if you
go back, you can find thatepisode where we talk about ways
to market yourself ethicallywithout crossing some of those
(11:18):
boundaries.
But specifically, how do we keepclients while maintaining
ethical boundaries?
And the question behind thisquestion is how do we, why
basically keep somebody oncontinuing to see us, continuing
to pay us, maybe when the bulkof the work we're doing together
is done?
Is it okay to view people aslifelong clients you know what I
(11:40):
mean or is it a we need to getthem some help and then release
them ethically?
So this is kind of a heavyquestion.
Obviously, it's going to bevery dependent on the person,
but first of all, what I alwayssay is let's reframe the way we
think about things.
It's not a one and done, and soI'm going to talk about my
business as an example.
(12:02):
So we help people with a lot ofdifferent things, but our main
bread and butter is helpingpeople put a money system in
place in their business.
So the bulk of the work we'redoing in the first 90 days is
creating this system, helpingthem get clarity on where their
numbers are today, helping themget clarity on where they should
be, putting the system intopractice, guiding them step by
step through that process.
(12:23):
Now, after 90 days, to three tosix months, this system is
moving.
It's not perfect yet, but wehave at least set it up.
It's at least got its legs andit's starting to go.
We at that point it's maybe sixmonths in and we do a six-month
coaching engagement.
At that point we could be atthis conundrum where we're
(12:45):
saying, okay, well, we got thesystem set up, so we need to let
you go or we continue to workwith them.
Most people stay with us longer,and the reason is because, yes,
maybe they came to us becausethey needed a money system, but
what they learn and discover isthe accountability is huge.
They learn and discover thattheir business is always
changing.
(13:05):
They learn and discover that wecan help them in different
areas outside of just setting upa money system.
A money system is thefoundation, and then that opens
the door for us to explorepricing, for us to explore
employer-clinician profitability, for us to explore growth, for
us to talk about what does itlook like when it's time to hire
a team member, or hire the nextteam member, or to open up an
(13:26):
office building?
Or what does it look like if mybusiness, which is maybe
100,000 today, what about whenwe hit the quarter of a million,
half a million million dollar?
So, as you can see, things arealways changing, and I know you
know this in life with therapy.
Maybe somebody comes to you forone specific thing, but life is
always coming, things arealways changing, things are
(13:47):
always happening, and so a lotof people might benefit from
that ongoing support.
What I would say is reallyfocusing in on what do they need
and are they finding value outof it?
We've a lot of times sat backand looked at clients and go man
, I feel like we're not.
Are we at a place where we'renot really helping?
They've been with us for years.
I feel like we're not reallyhelping them with anything new
(14:08):
very often, but when you talk tothe client, they're going.
No, I love the fact that once amonth or twice a month, I get
to talk to somebody who ismaking me think about my money,
who's making this stay top ofmind, that I'm engaging in, I'm
engaging in conversation, and Idon't feel like I'm doing this
alone anymore.
I can have somebody to bounceideas off of, I have somebody to
(14:32):
talk through and strategizewith, and so while on our side
we're going you know, maybe Ifeel like we should probably let
him go On their side, they'resaying I'm still getting
tremendous value out of thisrelationship and I want it to
continue.
And so just keeping that inmind is what are their goals?
What are they hoping to attainand retaining them in that sense
?
Maybe you feel like, hey, we'veworked through this trauma you
came to see me about, but maybethey're still getting value out
(14:53):
of meeting with you, and soreally hone in on that.
You can also offer differentlevels of support.
So is there a step-down option?
Can you reduce frequency?
Do you have different offerings?
Do you have different groups,maybe different ways that you
can support them in a lowerfrequency?
We usually move clients to aquarterly rhythm instead of a
monthly coaching rhythm after awhile, because maybe they don't
(15:14):
need that month, that monthly 30day support, but meeting every
three months would be superhelpful to them.
So giving a step down option.
Also, maybe you have differentclinicians on your team who
specialize in different things,and so moving them to a
different clinician could alsobe an option.
So finding different ways toserve them and better ways to
(15:36):
serve them.
Ultimately, of course, you canalways let them go.
If you have a referral partner,maybe it's time to pass them
out to somebody else.
Maybe if you have content orworkshops or educational content
like courses, those aredifferent ways that you can step
in and serve people outside ofthat one on one.
If the time comes that you'regoing, okay, it's time for us to
end this relationshippotentially.
(15:57):
But I always say go back to whatdo they need?
What do they want?
Are they getting value?
This is a conversation you canhave at the end of a session.
Talk to them about hey, how areyou feeling about your progress
and our frequency and wherewe've come and what are you
trying to do next?
Staying goal focused, stayingforward looking.
That's something that we dowith our clients constantly, as
(16:19):
we are keeping a pulse on whatare they trying to achieve in
the next few months so that weknow what work there is to do
and what is our new focus rightnow and what are we trying to
pivot toward.
So, opening those conversationsso that you know how can I
support you best, moving forwardand continue to make this
relationship valuable.
We don't want you to always beseeking out new clients
(16:41):
constantly.
How can we retain more of yourclients, but again in that
ethical way where you're notmanipulating, you're not
pressuring someone to stickaround or you're not keeping
somebody with you and forcingthem to be dependent simply
because you're afraid of losingthat monthly fee or that session
fee?
So, really finding that balance.
How can we add the value?
(17:02):
How can we serve the client sothat they want to stay, that
they see different ways that youcan serve and help them?
All right, those are three bigquestions we get.
Please, if you have questionsthat you want to ask, go to
therapybusinesspodcom and youcan submit questions to us
through there.
We would love to answer themhere live on one of our future
podcasts.
Thanks for joining us on theTherapy Business Podcast.
(17:25):
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview and share it with a
practice owner that you may knowIf your practice needs help
getting organized with itsfinances or just growing your
practice, head totherapybusinesspodcom to learn
how we can help.
My name is Craig and I'm the owner of Daisy Financial
Coaching.
Our team is on a mission tomake your therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
(00:24):
Running a business, owning yourown therapy practice, can feel
really isolating.
Sometimes it feels like we areon this island and not a lot of
people can fully understand whatwe're going through.
You may have friends and familymembers who are working 9 to 5s
, or maybe they own a business,but it's just a slightly
different one.
We find that not a lot ofpeople can understand fully the
(00:45):
stress and the pressure that weput ourselves on under as
business owners.
So, when it comes down to thesethings, a lot of times we are
afraid to reach out or we'reafraid to admit that we don't
know certain things, and so, aswe meet with business owners and
therapy practice owners whocome in and ask us questions or
maybe they submit questions tothe podcast, or these are
(01:09):
clients that we already havethere's certain questions that
come up over and over and over,and a lot of times they feel
embarrassed.
They feel like they should knowthe answer to these, but they
have no idea that it's aquestion that every practice
owner has and it's, while maybefeels like something they should
know.
It's okay that you don't andhonestly, I don't know why you
should.
No one teaches us business whenwe're going through grad school
(01:29):
to become therapists.
So it's really important toreach out for help and ask these
questions, and today I want tohighlight just a few questions
that we receive, and this willbe a reoccurring themed episode
that we'll do every so often,where we answer some common
questions to make sure that ifyou have this question burning
in your mind but you've beenafraid to ask it, one that you
see that you're not alone to us,or you can email me directly at
(01:52):
info at dacycoachingcom, andI'm happy to take that question,
either answer it via email or,if I feel like it's a question
(02:13):
that would benefit listeners,we'll add it to one of our
future episodes and answer itlive here on the podcast.
All right, let's jump intofirst common question, which is
should I take insurance or goprivate pay, or another way of
phrasing, that is, should I keeptaking insurance or should I
switch over to private pay andthis is a very heavy question
(02:35):
because it depends on a lot ofdifferent things.
People take insurance for manyreasons.
Typically, the number onereason I see clinicians or
therapy practices take insurancefrom day one is because they
need clients.
They have this need to getclients in the door and the
fastest way to do that is towork with insurance.
Now, obviously, insurance isgoing to have its drawbacks.
It's capped what you'rereimbursed on, so you have a
(02:57):
certain reimbursement rate thatyou are stuck with.
Now you can negotiate those.
We just talked about that in arecent episode.
So if you go back a fewepisodes, you'll see that I
talked to you through theprocess of renegotiating some of
your reimbursement rates tohopefully get a pay bump.
But all I said, you don't havecontrol over what you are
charging clients or what you'regetting paid from clients.
But it is a good lead generator.
(03:19):
It's a great way for people tocome to you who maybe wouldn't
be coming to you if you didn'ttake insurance.
Now what we find is a lot ofpeople feel trapped in this
insurance world and they'retrying to get more private pay
clients, but they're going.
How do I make that transition?
And then also, should I makethat transition?
Should I be turning away thislead flow in order to switch to
(03:41):
private pay, or should I begiving up this revenue in order
to be charging more?
That answer really depends onyou.
So what is I always say?
Start with boiling down to whyam I taking insurance to begin
with?
If it's leads?
Ask the question do I stillneed a lead source If your
calendar is capped, if you havea waiting list, if your team is
(04:03):
pretty full, you may not need alead source right now.
Maybe you don't need leadscoming in.
Maybe you're at a place whereyou could focus more on private
pay and taking on higher payingclients.
So if it's a lead source, askthat question.
If it's a moral thing you'regoing I want my therapy to be
accessible to everyone and havemoney not be a barrier well then
(04:26):
, insurance might be a good fitfor your practice, because that
is a way for somebody to come toyou that maybe they wouldn't be
able to privately pay for it.
That said, the flip side ofthat is you are not required to
work with everybody, and it'snot ethically or morally wrong
to turn people away if theycan't afford you.
You can serve people withoutactually taking them on as
(04:48):
clients.
So that may mean you have areferral partner.
So if you decide I'm gonna stoptaking insurance and somebody
comes to me and they can'tafford it, but they have
insurance, maybe you have a fewpeople in your back pocket you
can send them to that does takeinsurance.
Maybe you can send themresources or help them through
that process of finding someonewho is a good fit even though
(05:08):
you are not that fit.
You do not have to be a goodfit for everyone.
So, as you're deciding, should Icontinue taking insurance?
Should I take it to begin with?
Maybe you're right now allprivate pay and you're like
maybe is it a good idea to addinsurance.
I don't know.
I think it boils down to thosethings.
What's the purpose of takinginsurance?
Like I said, most of the timeit's leads, but sometimes it's
(05:29):
just an accessibility thing.
Before dropping insurance, wewant to make sure that we have a
marketing engine that isworking.
Either you have a large enoughclient base that word of mouth
is cooking, they're referringtheir friends and family to you
and you have enough peoplecoming in not directly through
insurance avenues.
Maybe you have a lot of onlinecontent, a lot of different
(05:52):
marketing.
Maybe you're running Google ads, whatever it is.
A lot of things factor intothat.
How much can we lean into thatprivate pay?
Because if we're going to cutoff insurance or we're going to
choose not to accept it, then wehave to have some kind of way
to drive people to our practice.
Even if you're full, even ifyou're at capacity, we still
need some kind of traction.
(06:12):
One of the biggest mistakes thatyou can make is to pull your
foot off the marketing gassimply because you're going well
, we're doing great, we haveplenty of clients and we don't
need clients right now.
Because then what happens isclients churn and then all of a
sudden, you are in need ofclients and you don't have
anything primed.
You don't have any marketingreally working for you.
So insurance or private payreally depends on you.
(06:36):
But from a financial standpoint, private pay is going to be
better.
You're gonna make more moneyper session, it's gonna make it
easier to hire clinicians and topay them a wage that is really
highlights their value.
But all that said, if you'rebrand new and you just need
clients coming to the door,insurance is a great way to get
(06:57):
into that.
Or if you've been around for awhile and insurance is your main
breadwinner, then maybe keep itfor until you have a chance to
transition out of it.
So that is one of the topquestions that we receive.
Another one that we receive isreally focused on the business
structure.
So should I operate as an LLC,an S-corp, another business
(07:19):
structure?
And so I want to guide youthrough the three different
types, three main types ofbusiness structures that you're
probably going to be dealingwith.
So sole proprietorship is thefirst one.
That's the easiest one to start.
It is just you doing businessas you.
There's no legal separation,there's no business entity
itself.
It's's just you.
So, as my music business is asole proprietorship because I'm
a contract musician, I have aband I play in, I do contract
(07:42):
gigs with other musical groups,and so it is just me.
That means when they pay me,it's directly to me, it's not to
a business.
This is the easiest way to doit.
Like I said, however, there'sno separation, which means that
your personal assets are at risk.
If, let's say, I were to dosomething and somebody were to
(08:03):
want to come sue me, they don'tsue the business, they're suing
me directly because there is nobusiness to sue.
So it's all in one.
So there are risks that comewith it.
Typically a sole proprietorshipis for, I would say, side
hustles, maybe if it's the very,very early stages of your
business.
But I usually would say, if youare going to be doing this,
(08:23):
like this is your full-time gig,then probably a good idea to
just go ahead and do an LLC.
Now, an LLC is very similar.
It just separates it.
It's a legal protection for you.
It's a business entity.
So you have your business andthen you have you.
It keeps it incrediblyseparated and this is going to
protect you.
So if that example I gave, ifsomebody were to come and sue me
(08:46):
as a musician, well, they'regoing to sue.
If I had an LLC, they sue thebusiness, not me.
My personal assets are not atrisk in that instance.
So separating it out, it'sbetter to do that again if this
is going to be your full-timegig.
Now, an S-corp is anS-corporation is just another
level up, an S-corp.
Really, the benefit of it is ittakes away the self-employment
(09:09):
tax.
So when you're an LLC or a soleproprietorship, you're going to
be paying a self employment tax, which is usually around 15%.
When you go through an S corpyou're only taxed on what goes
through your payroll.
And so with an S corp there areadded complications, like
you're going to have to have apayroll software, you're going
to have to pay yourself throughpayroll, you have to pay
(09:31):
yourself a reasonable wage,which is kind of vague, but a
reasonable salary so that it'srunning through.
You're going to be paying forMedicare and unemployment tax,
all those things.
Because it really is like youare an employee of your company.
With an S-Corp, you have yourS-Corp business and then you
have you who is the manager, theCEO, who's being paid a salary
(09:53):
through payroll to be the CEO orthe manager of the business.
Typically, s-corp is going tosave you money if you're making
over $75,000 to $100,000 a year.
So when you pass that threshold, most of the time it makes more
financial sense to switch overto an S-Corp.
And that's just because thereare fees.
There are other things that ifyou're smaller than that, the
(10:15):
cost savings of thatself-employment tax does not
necessarily outweigh theS-corporation side.
As far as all of this goes, weare not lawyers, we're not CPAs.
So I always recommend, beforeyou make any decisions with
these things and this is why wedon't talk a lot about these
different tax structures andthese different business
structures is because there's alot of fact-dependent things on
(10:36):
it.
So what I've kind ofhighlighted is some rule of
thumbs, but I highly recommendtalking to your tax pro, talking
to, if you have, a businesslawyer, figuring out what is the
right timing for me, with whatbusiness structure should I be
doing?
All right, the last question wehave is retaining questions.
How do I retain sorry, how do Iretain clients while
maintaining ethical boundaries?
(10:56):
This even goes out into thatmarketing realm of ethical
marketing in this space which wehave an episode where I
interviewed a marketingspecialist who specializes with
therapy practices all overethical marketing, and so if you
go back, you can find thatepisode where we talk about ways
to market yourself ethicallywithout crossing some of those
(11:18):
boundaries.
But specifically, how do we keepclients while maintaining
ethical boundaries?
And the question behind thisquestion is how do we, why
basically keep somebody oncontinuing to see us, continuing
to pay us, maybe when the bulkof the work we're doing together
is done?
Is it okay to view people aslifelong clients you know what I
(11:40):
mean or is it a we need to getthem some help and then release
them ethically?
So this is kind of a heavyquestion.
Obviously, it's going to bevery dependent on the person,
but first of all, what I alwayssay is let's reframe the way we
think about things.
It's not a one and done, and soI'm going to talk about my
business as an example.
(12:02):
So we help people with a lot ofdifferent things, but our main
bread and butter is helpingpeople put a money system in
place in their business.
So the bulk of the work we'redoing in the first 90 days is
creating this system, helpingthem get clarity on where their
numbers are today, helping themget clarity on where they should
be, putting the system intopractice, guiding them step by
step through that process.
(12:23):
Now, after 90 days, to three tosix months, this system is
moving.
It's not perfect yet, but wehave at least set it up.
It's at least got its legs andit's starting to go.
We at that point it's maybe sixmonths in and we do a six-month
coaching engagement.
At that point we could be atthis conundrum where we're
(12:45):
saying, okay, well, we got thesystem set up, so we need to let
you go or we continue to workwith them.
Most people stay with us longer,and the reason is because, yes,
maybe they came to us becausethey needed a money system, but
what they learn and discover isthe accountability is huge.
They learn and discover thattheir business is always
changing.
(13:05):
They learn and discover that wecan help them in different
areas outside of just setting upa money system.
A money system is thefoundation, and then that opens
the door for us to explorepricing, for us to explore
employer-clinician profitability, for us to explore growth, for
us to talk about what does itlook like when it's time to hire
a team member, or hire the nextteam member, or to open up an
(13:26):
office building?
Or what does it look like if mybusiness, which is maybe
100,000 today, what about whenwe hit the quarter of a million,
half a million million dollar?
So, as you can see, things arealways changing, and I know you
know this in life with therapy.
Maybe somebody comes to you forone specific thing, but life is
always coming, things arealways changing, things are
(13:47):
always happening, and so a lotof people might benefit from
that ongoing support.
What I would say is reallyfocusing in on what do they need
and are they finding value outof it?
We've a lot of times sat backand looked at clients and go man
, I feel like we're not.
Are we at a place where we'renot really helping?
They've been with us for years.
I feel like we're not reallyhelping them with anything new
(14:08):
very often, but when you talk tothe client, they're going.
No, I love the fact that once amonth or twice a month, I get
to talk to somebody who ismaking me think about my money,
who's making this stay top ofmind, that I'm engaging in, I'm
engaging in conversation, and Idon't feel like I'm doing this
alone anymore.
I can have somebody to bounceideas off of, I have somebody to
(14:32):
talk through and strategizewith, and so while on our side
we're going you know, maybe Ifeel like we should probably let
him go On their side, they'resaying I'm still getting
tremendous value out of thisrelationship and I want it to
continue.
And so just keeping that inmind is what are their goals?
What are they hoping to attainand retaining them in that sense
?
Maybe you feel like, hey, we'veworked through this trauma you
came to see me about, but maybethey're still getting value out
(14:53):
of meeting with you, and soreally hone in on that.
You can also offer differentlevels of support.
So is there a step-down option?
Can you reduce frequency?
Do you have different offerings?
Do you have different groups,maybe different ways that you
can support them in a lowerfrequency?
We usually move clients to aquarterly rhythm instead of a
monthly coaching rhythm after awhile, because maybe they don't
(15:14):
need that month, that monthly 30day support, but meeting every
three months would be superhelpful to them.
So giving a step down option.
Also, maybe you have differentclinicians on your team who
specialize in different things,and so moving them to a
different clinician could alsobe an option.
So finding different ways toserve them and better ways to
(15:36):
serve them.
Ultimately, of course, you canalways let them go.
If you have a referral partner,maybe it's time to pass them
out to somebody else.
Maybe if you have content orworkshops or educational content
like courses, those aredifferent ways that you can step
in and serve people outside ofthat one on one.
If the time comes that you'regoing, okay, it's time for us to
end this relationshippotentially.
(15:57):
But I always say go back to whatdo they need?
What do they want?
Are they getting value?
This is a conversation you canhave at the end of a session.
Talk to them about hey, how areyou feeling about your progress
and our frequency and wherewe've come and what are you
trying to do next?
Staying goal focused, stayingforward looking.
That's something that we dowith our clients constantly, as
(16:19):
we are keeping a pulse on whatare they trying to achieve in
the next few months so that weknow what work there is to do
and what is our new focus rightnow and what are we trying to
pivot toward.
So, opening those conversationsso that you know how can I
support you best, moving forwardand continue to make this
relationship valuable.
We don't want you to always beseeking out new clients
(16:41):
constantly.
How can we retain more of yourclients, but again in that
ethical way where you're notmanipulating, you're not
pressuring someone to stickaround or you're not keeping
somebody with you and forcingthem to be dependent simply
because you're afraid of losingthat monthly fee or that session
fee?
So, really finding that balance.
How can we add the value?
(17:02):
How can we serve the client sothat they want to stay, that
they see different ways that youcan serve and help them?
All right, those are three bigquestions we get.
Please, if you have questionsthat you want to ask, go to
therapybusinesspodcom and youcan submit questions to us
through there.
We would love to answer themhere live on one of our future
podcasts.
Thanks for joining us on theTherapy Business Podcast.
(17:25):
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview and share it with a
practice owner that you may knowIf your practice needs help
getting organized with itsfinances or just growing your
practice, head totherapybusinesspodcom to learn
how we can help.
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